Lins | 40+ Lifestyle SE London

Good morning ☺️ some sunny snaps from our garden yesterday evening, because I had a Facebook memory come up of when we first moved in and my goodness I can’t believe how much it looks like a different garden now! I look out every day at the greenhouse at the back and it was like it was always meant to be there and its just my favourite way to spend time 🥰 1 & 2: The garden last night (I still need to uncover my painted table but I know it’s going to need some repair so I’m delaying the inevitable!) 3: The garden in March 2014 just after we moved in. Pete had to strim the entire lawn because it was too long for a mower 4: How things looked for the first 5 years we lived here. I had zero interest in gardening and thought it was utterly boring 🫣 5: And then in 2019, aged 39, I had some big life changes - had to leave my old job after 15 years, diagnosed with chronic illness as a result of the stress, and was self-employed. Gardening healed me as I started the long makeover project that has resulted in where we are today - spilling a lot of paint in the process! Gardens do take time but my goodness they are so good for the soul 🫶🏻 Good luck to London Marathon runners today, you are heroes!! Urban garden | Greenhouse | Painted patio | Back garden | Grow your own

A simple Saturday spent mostly at home 🫶🏻 Between work which is so full on, perimenopause and the chronic illness life, I find more than ever I’m craving little easy moments of joy. Yes the big things are WONDERFUL but I struggle with overwhelm and overstimulation these days in a way I never used to, so it’s safe to say I’m happiest at home as I navigate all these hormonal changes 🙋🏼‍♀️ 1) Celebrating my pal’s birthday plans fell through so her birthday flowers became mine 🥰 2) A rare moment of detente between my snoozy fluffs 3) Breakfast in the greenhouse. Matcha porridge is my OBSESSION and I will miss it when the weather warms up 4) Popped to the shops and found a compact planter in Lidl. Once I put it together Boo seized his chance 5) This last time I was pulling crumbling plaster off the spare room walls so I’m so glad to enjoy it now 6) And its been 2 years since we started our epic gym conversion, still adore it 7) Made the High Protein Tofu Bolognaise from the Deliciously Ella app for dinner and it was 🤌🏻

I’ve spent the last couple of weekends having a big old tidy of our veg/growing patch (swipe for how it looked after a very wet winter) and I’m SO excited for spring now. I’ve relaid all the wood chip for the first time since I dug it out in 2023 and it looks so fresh. After not doing anything in the garden last year because of internal renovations and then work taking over my life, I’m so happy to be getting stuck in again. But it can all wait for a few days as we’re off to the Cotswolds for a little break with pooch and hopefully lots of garden centre visits 🤭 1) The veg patch now 2) The veg patch a couple of weeks ago 3) 2023 as I started to create it 4) My little lockdown growing area 5-7) How it used to look until I started working in the garden back in 2019

Sunny captures from my little kitchen - can you believe its been a little over 7 YEARS since my stealth kitchen makeover whilst Pete was away?! I know so many of you started following me then, long before Reels existed and Stories had only just begun. Only ever intended to be a temporary budget transformation it’s still going strong and I still love it every bit as much as I did back then. We had a leak through the ceiling from the boiler at the start of 2025 so I took the opportunity to colour drench the walls and tiles in School House White which is a much warmer neutral than the former Ammonite. I’ve also changed the pink and green slightly to tie in them in with other rooms and honestly, it all still brings me so much joy 💓 To those of you still here from then, thank you 🫶🏻 #kitchenmakeover #smallkitchen #budgethome #colourfulkitchen #1930shome

We’ve made it to March 🌷 ☀️ 🐣 Hope you’re having a good weekend! My Mum is here with her husband so our spare room is actually occupied by someone other than Pete (now I’m 46 I fully appreciate those celeb couples who live in adjacent but separate houses because my perimenopausal self will literally destroy him if I have to put up with his snoring so thank god for a spare room 🤣🤣🤣🤣) and here’s a little reminder of where we were this time last year Of course it’s me and it’s not finished - I still need to tile the fireplace, paint the door etc etc but considering it spent 11 years as a dumping ground, this is MUCH better! Have a lovely day 💓 #guestroom #pinkinterior #1930shome #1930srenovation #colourfulhome

Tell me you’re middle-aged without telling me you’re middle-aged 🤣🤣🤣 Jokes aside, I bloomin’ love being in my 40s, absolutely the best decade so far (hormonal rollercoasters notwithstanding). Leaning into unapologetically embracing the simpler things in life, and if you’re younger than me and think this won’t come for you, it will, one day, before you’ve even realised its happened 🤗🫶🏻

This is 46 🎂 🎁 and how very, very grateful I am to be here. Every line, every grey hair, every moment of 46 incredible years when so many people don’t get to do this. A new chapter for me because I am physically and mentally able to move my body and I don’t ever want to take that for granted. Because I hopefully want to be strong for decades to come and look after this body of mine - after all, it’s the only one I have. I am so excited to see where this new passion takes me. Always remember - ageing is a privilege, not something to be ashamed of. Is it harder now? Absolutely - so much so than it was in my 20s, 30s and even in my early 40s - noticeably and significantly so. These perimenopausal cycles are nuts for starters, especially combined with a chronic illness. But I am so so lucky to be here. That’s all x

Rise and shine lovelies! Now I know mornings are not for everyone but since I committed to an early morning routine (5am during the week) at the start of October because I was at rock-bottom, it has literally CHANGED MY LIFE! I manage my incredibly busy work days so much better, sleep amazingly and just generally feel so so well in myself pretty much every day. So many people have asked me to share more so here are some tips if you’re interested (and swipe through to see what mine look like): •Consider what is possible for YOU! I work from home 4 days a week (office the other day) and my mornings would look very different if I had to commute every day or had children to care for. Never be judged or feel worse for what you can manage. •Don’t try to copy someone else’s routine. Morning affirmations and journaling are categorically NOT for me; I do what I need to/want to do and you need to do the same •It won’t happen overnight. If you roll out of bed at 8.30 to start work, you won’t suddenly become an early morning person. Take your time and to it incrementally •You HAVE to nail nighttime routines too. I’m nearly 46 and one night out during the week is enough for me, compared to my 20s and 30s when I would be out most nights. If I’m not out, I am in bed by 9.30 and aim to be asleep by 10.30/11. This means I have enough sleep to get up at 5am. But if I’m going out I know that I won’t get up early and that’s totally ok 👌🏻 •Plan. Make sure you have things ready the night before, for example if you’re going to exercise or go for a walk. Take the thinking out of it and it will be so much easier •Do things you will really enjoy. Perhaps extra time to read or dedicate to a hobby, and that will really motivate you to keep going •Discipline and consistency really are key. Like I said earlier, it doesn’t have to be every day but it has to be *most* days so you can really feel the benefits I’m so passionate about this and could talk about it forever! Have I convinced anyone to give it a go yet? 😆 #morningroutines #5amclub #midlifewomen #perimenopausal #perimenopausehealth

Happy New Year 🥳 I thought I’d pop back online for hopefully a while and try to be a bit more consistent. It’s a strange thing to go from working full time, to being a full time content creator, and then back to working full time again and I definitely lost my way/momentum/passion. But when I popped my head up on stories over Christmas to ask what people wanted to see everyone was so lovely (if not a little overwhelming 🥰) So in no particular order and with an accompanying piccie, here is what I’ll try and share more of due to popular request: 1) Me 👋🏼 2) London Life 3) Book Recommendations 4) Boo & Maddie 5) TV & Film chat (sorry, no traitors here 🫣😆) 6) Meal planning & cooking 7) Home & DIY 8) Midlife health & wellbeing/perimenopause 9) My southeast London garden adventures Let’s see if I can keep any kind of routine! Wishing you a healthy and happy year ahead phone pals x #perimenopausehealth #perimenopausesupport #midlifewomen #40plus #40pluswomen

Well hello there 👋🏼 Its been quite a while since I popped up here and I do hope you’re all ok! I shared to stories at the weekend that I’ve been at a spa retreat in Austria and had a few questions via DM so thought it might be helpful to share some more info - it was SO dreamy! Thank you so much to my wonderful friend and work pal @curly_wurly_holly for organising! 🏠 We stayed for two nights (Friday and Saturday) at the @heilthermenresort in the village of Bad Waltersdorf, which is accessible by public transport from Vienna where we flew into. It cost approx £200 per night which included half board, a 50 minute massage and two welcome drinks plus full access to all the spa areas ✈️ we flew into Vienna and then took the CAT (train) into Vienna city centre which takes 16 minutes to Vienna “Mitte” station. You can also take some regular trains but these will take slightly longer. 🚌 The spa is accessible either via coach or train. The coach is called the Thermenlandbus and does a dedicated limited daily service to the spa areas of the Styria region of Austria. The coach takes about 90 minutes and leaves from the international bus area at Vienna Hauptbanhof station (note: if you take the CAT you’ll need to make you way to Vienna Hauptbahnhof which is a few stops away either by S-Bahn, U-bahn or the tram). On Sunday we had to take the train back to Vienna because there was only one coach service and the hotel runs free shuttles to the Bad Waltersdorf train station. From here it’s about 2h30 back to Vienna. 🍱 the food was amazing and catered for many different tastes. I didn’t have any problem as a veggie and there were a couple of restaurants to eat lunch in. The bar is beautiful and drinks and food are so reasonably priced, eg 2 courses at lunch for £11 🏊 there are several different pool areas, some of which are open to day guests and some for the hotel guests only, plus saunas, relaxation areas etc. The pools are 36 degrees whether indoors or out and it makes for the perfect relaxation. There is a small gym, a couple of shops and nature trails if you have better weather but honestly it was so atmospheric I loved it! (Cont’d in comments)

Slowly emerging from an Ulcerative Colitis flare over the last couple of weeks where my days have been characterised by laxatives and suppositories - a pretty toxic combination 🥴 So grateful to the NHS and my gastro team for all the quick tests and monitoring and hopefully on the mend now. Also making peace with what an immense privilege it is to have a gut-related auto-immune disease because knowledge is power and I’d comfortably say that not even 10% of people understand their guts and the impact bad gut health has. It’s so much more than bowel habits- everything from anxiety to bad skin can be improved by what we eat. Here is everything I’ve made for me and my family this weekend now I have some energy back: 1) Jackfruit jambalaya for dinner tonight and Tuesday 2) Leftovers of the high protein kale pasta I made yesterday which will be for dinner tomorrow 3) Hummus (I eat hummus daily) 4) Ice cream for Maddie made with strawberries, bananas and natural yoghurt 5) lunchboxes for Pete with fish, sweet potato and broccoli 6) Granola - oats, seeds and dried fruit but no nuts for me 7) Lentil and sun dried tomato salad lunchboxes for me Here’s to thriving with illness - we really are what we eat 👌🏻 #ulcerativecolitis #autoimmunedisease #guthealing #guthealthy

WE MADE IT! 🎉 Eleven years after we moved in, we finally have the beginnings of a spare room just in time for my mum to come and stay this weekend. The room is only about half done so lots more lovely bits and pieces to come like lighting, new wardrobes, the fireplace, artwork but I’m so glad we’ve got this far. I thought I’d share a realistic breakdown of the time it took us to get here: -February = clearing the room (yes it took a month. There was eleven years of amalgamated stuff in there 🙄) -March = prepping for replastering. I had to remove almost all of the existing paper and plaster, taking it back to brick in the process as well as repairing the newly discovered fireplace -1st April = replastering (professionals) which took 3 days -Easter = I painted (Mist coat Good Friday, coat 1 Saturday, coat 2 Easter Sunday) -30th April = new flooring fitted (professionals) -May = bought, cut and fitted skirting (me). Sourced, ordered and put the bed together (outsourced that 😆). Bought new bedding and bedside tables. I’ll share a separate post covering cost breakdown and where everything has gone. For now though, I think I may just give myself a day or two’s rest from the projects 😴